Our first issue since March 21.
Venezuela
Blanca Eekhout: The Bolivarian Revolution: Past, Present, and Future Blanca points out that the then new Chavez government, with few resources at the time, sought to address the terrible social problems the people faced. His solution was to turn each social need into an organization and each organization into a movement. In this, the Misiones were born. Likewise, the communal system, ALBA, reunifying OPEC, Petrocaribe, CELAC. Maduro continued this with the Constituent Assembly, CLAP, among others.
Ultimas Noticias: President Maduro honors the people of Vietnam 50 years after the defeat of US imperialism On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the “Liberation of Saigon,” when communist troops from the North entered the presidential palace of South Vietnam in 1975 and ended the war, thePresident of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, expressed his admiration for the people of Vietnam, for being a beacon of inspiration for countries around the world. The President described Vietnam’s victory as a catastrophic defeat for the American empire, as their courage demonstrated that “when a people want to be free, they achieve it, and Vietnam defeated the greatest military machine on planet Earth.”
Orinoco Tribune: US Abduction of 2-Year-Old Venezuelan Girl Constitutes Human Trafficking: Venezuelan Authorities Foreign Minister Yván Gil condemned the separation of a 2-year-old Venezuelan child from her mother as an act of “extreme violence,” calling it “absolutely unacceptable and unthinkable in the 21st century.” Yorely Bernal, a Venezuelan citizen who recently returned to the country via the Return to the Homeland repatriation program. Bernal recounted how her two-year-old daughter was forcibly taken from her without explanation, and she was pressured to board the flight to Venezuela alone. The girl’s father was detained and deported “without trial or legal process” to a detention facility in El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele’s administration, likening the act to “the death trains used to transport Jews to Nazi extermination camps during World War II.”
Orinoco Tribune: Former Biden Adviser: Maduro Defeated Trump’s 2019 Sanctions, Maximum Pressure Only Benefits China Juan González, senior director of the US National Security Council during the Biden administration, noted that President Maduro managed to overcome sanctions imposed by his counterpart Trump in 2019, during Trump’s first term. González also mentioned that Trump’s maximum pressure campaign did not produce the expected results during his first term. For González, the maximum pressure approach failed to remove President Maduro from power and eroded US influence in the region, creating space for China, Russia, and Iran to deepen their strategic presence.
Ultimas Noticias: President Maduro: The Communes Will Be the Epicenter of the New Power of the People Regarding the second National Popular Consultation 2025, held April 27, President Maduro asserted that by 2029, Venezuela will have built its own socialist model and that “the Communes will be the epicenter of the new power of the people.” During his program Con Maduro Más, he noted, “Right now, we have 5,338 Communal Circuits, a little over 4,000 established Communes, and I have set a goal that by January 1, 2027, we must have at least 6,000 well-consolidated, well-organized, and fully prepared Communes nationwide.”
Carlos Ron: United States vs the Bolivarian Revolution A very good concise history of the accomplishments of the revolution since 1998 and the US campaign to overthrow it. “The epic of the Venezuelan people and its revolutionary government during the past ten years is testament of resistance and commitment to maintaining its own independent political, social, and economic path. Despite shortcomings and difficulties, most of the Venezuelan people could point to President Maduro’s government as the guarantee that people-focused policies would remain in place.”
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Cuba
Belly of the Beast: Cuban American Claiming to Own Island in Cuba Wins Title III Lawsuit – For Now A Miami jury said Cuban-American Mario Echevarría and family are owed close to $30 million (or possibly as much as $119.4 million total) from Expedia, Hotels.com, and Orbitz because they booked hotel rooms on an island off the coast of Cuba that he claims his family owned. The lawsuit was made possible by Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which allows US claimants whose property was nationalized during the Cuban Revolution to sue companies for doing business on that property.
May 1: Cuba’s Determination and Resistance is on Full Display Officially 5.3 million Cubans turned out across the island, according to the CTC publication Trabajadores; including an estimated 700,000 in Havana alone. A thousand friends from more than 30 countries including members of the May Day brigade shared the revolutionary energy, dreams and commitment of struggle of the Cuban people.
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Nicaragua
Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition: Remembering Ben Linder; Why Nicaragua did not sign CELAC statement Ben Linder was killed by the US contras on April 28, 1987. 35 Years ~ Honoring Ben Linder by his brother John Linder; Casa Ben Linder’s Becca Renk: Ben Linder 37 Years Presente! (2024); American Sandinista – documentary about the example of Ben Linder. Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke explains why Nicaragua did not sign the CELAC declaration.
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Bolivia
Peoples Dispatch: New faces, old rivalries: Bolivia’s upcoming presidential elections After a political dispute between former president Evo Morales and current president Luis Arce and a series of economic challenges, the country is preparing to decide its political future. The right-wing is also divided after failing to reach a minimum agreement. The final list of presidential candidates will be announced on May 19. Faced with a divided left, this is one of the best opportunities that the right has had in almost 20 years of MAS governments, and they had attempted to work on a grand alliance of the right. However, the right has also split.
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Events
Monday, May 12, 2:30pm ET Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition monthly meeting on Zoom. Email NicaraguaSolidarityCoalition@gmail.com for zoom access.
Sunday, May 18, 3 pm ET Nicaragua Webinar: “Nicaraguan programs of maternal & child health: A cross-national comparison.” Register: bit.ly/NicaMay18. Join us to hear the featured speakers describe special programs that Nicaragua has put in place, such as the casas maternas for women about to give birth, to protect and enhance the health of mothers and their children. They will also compare health outcomes in Nicaragua and other nations, particularly the US.
Sunday, June 22, 3 pm ET Nicaragua Webinar: Report-back from the recent official Veterans for Peace Delegation to Nicaragua, with Gerry Condon with other veterans.
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Delegations to Cuba, Nicaragua:
Cuba
Different Brigades and Solidarity Trips to Cuba
Witness to Peace delegations to Cuba
Friendly Planet delegations to Cuba
Nicaragua
Casa Ben Linder Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
June 2025: Global Health: Family and Community Health in Nicaragua
July 2025: Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution
November 2025: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
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This is also available at ChicagoALBASolidarity.org. If you have events to publicize, send them to venezuelaweekly@afgj.org or stansfieldsmith100@gmail.com.
Chicago ALBA Solidarity 